SLAP @ Penn went public with the PILOTs campaign earlier this month, demanding that the University of Pennsylvania pay $6.6 million to the City of Philadelphia through the voluntary Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) program.

Since then, the media has highlighted the work of SLAP and Jobs with Justice in our call to hold the University of Pennsylvania accountable to the city and to its own commitment to education.

Last week, SLAP was flattered as the PILOTs Campaign was the spotlight of this opinion piece written by the Editorial in AL DÍA News entitled "We are being schooled by the young."

﻿﻿It reads: "While we’re generating excuses for stakeholders seeking to side step the common good the young are all up in our faces, telling it as it really is. Opportunity begins by investing in education in every neighborhood, not just University City and other Penntrifying sections of the city."﻿﻿The PILOTs Campaign was also featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, where the University's history of its refusal to pay PILOTs was highlighted:

"Bermudez is a member of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), which last week called on Penn to begin donating about $6 million to the city in payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), with the money targeted for schools and other essential services. Penn said no, noting that it already donated to the city in many ways."

And we were also interviewed for WHYY's Newsworks radio show during primetime:"Even though it's a nonprofit institution, we have a $6.6 billion annual budget, we have a $9.3 billion endowment and at [Student Labor Action Project] we're only asking for 0.1 percent of that to go to the city and to schools and essential services," said senior Chloe Sigal, who, as a member of the Student Labor Action Project, participated in a "die in" during a Tuesday holiday party to raise awareness for the issue.

We are grateful and humbled for the astounding support and encouragement we have received from all corners of the city, from our neighbors in community meetings to words of encouragement from Penn faculty and staff. We reiterate the incredible inspiration and motivation that guide our work provided by our mentors and peers in our generation and those above us.

We want everyone to know that during finals and the upcoming holidays we will continue to fight with the rest of the Philadelphia community in our demand to see the city's school system fairly funded for all. Join SLAP as we contribute our grain of sand to the movement for racial and economic justice!

We let her know that business as usual cannot continue when Black lives are being lost, both in the streets, and here in our school system, where children don't have adequate nurses and two students have died in the last year. We mourned for the lives of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Laporshia Massey, a sixth grader who passed away at school when her asthma attack went undiagnosed. There was no nurse in the school at the time.

Although Amy Gutmann participated in the die-in and told us that Black lives matter, she was unwilling to speak about PILOTs or take concrete action towards addressing Penn's role in de-funding schools and displacing the Black community in West Philadelphia. She told us "we are doing everything we can" but this simply isn't true. $6.6 million of PILOTs would be just .1% of Penn's annual budget.

Amy Gutmann still has not responded to our letter. We await her response, and are ready to meet with her and discuss Penn moving forward with the PILOTs program.

Yesterday, SLAP delivered a letter and a giant blank check to President Gutman's office in College Hall. In the letter, we emphasized that Penn's current lobbying against PILOTs actively contributes to the disinvestment of Black and Brown communities and the defunding of Philly schools. We also delineated our demand: $6.6 million in PILOTs per year.

SLAP requested to meet with President Gutman by end of the 2nd week of the Spring semester. This is more than enough time for the University to prepare a response, considering that community members have been publicly demanding PILOTs for 2 years.

While SLAP has not yet received a response, administrators did choose to comment for the Inquirer: “We believe that...what we do in terms of all [our] contributions … is far more than the city would achieve through PILOT payments,” said Jeffrey Cooper, vice president for government and community affairs, pointing, in part, to Penn's recent decision to open up the University museum to school tours.

These extras can never replace appropriate funding for schools and other city essential services.